Barby:
What are the three general approaches recommended by the American Nurses Association (2017) to maintain sufficient staffing?
The American Nurses Association recommends three general approaches to maintain staffing. The first approach is that the association requires healthcare setups to have a team of nurses to create a staffing committee. The committee would ensure that they create a staffing plan that reflects the staff nurses’ needs, skills, and experience (Griffiths et al., 2020). The second approach is the need to disclose the facilities’ staffing levels to the public and regulatory body to create awareness when staffing level is low. The last one requires legislation of specific nurse-to-patient ratios. The ratio mandated by the legislators would facilitate staffing by filling up the gaps created if the nurse-patient ratio is not met.
Should LPNs be counted to meet minimum mandatory staffing ratios?
Licensed practical nurses can provide primary patient care; hence, the practical nurse should be included by the staffing committee in the mandatory ratio accompanying registered nurses during an understaffing crisis (Melrose et al., 2019). They would help reduce workload by sharing work with the available registered nurse. Moreover, an experienced licensed practical nurse is more skilled and knowledgeable on the hospital routines, and quality caregiving than new and less experienced registered nurses; hence, licensed practical nurses should be included in mandatory staffing when understaffing occurs in the hospital.
Analyze what proponents and critics say about whether mandatory minimum staffing ratios are needed.
Proponents and critics support the idea of maintaining a mandatory nurse-to-patient ratio as it increases positive patient outcomes. However, critics suggest that if the mandatory nurse-patient is imposed nationally, it will increase the cost of care with no guarantees for positive patient outcomes after hospitalization (Carthon et al., 2019). Also, the cost that comes with adding more registered nurses to satisfy the ratios would not be offset by the increased care cost, hence creating mandates that would not be fulfilled. Alternatively, the proponents and critics suggest creating market-based incentives to healthcare facilities to optimize nurse staffing levels.
Marta:
The Concepts of Ethics
Utilitarianism is a theory that focuses on the general happiness of the entire society instead of harm to the society. The theory focuses on the ultimate betterment of society (Savulescu et al.,2020). The theory is meant to promote goodwill among society members. For instance, if a person is infected with a contagious disease that has no cure, the individual can be quarantined for the safety of other society members (Eliopoulos,2018). Even if the quarantine process would encompass negative effects, the focus will be on the larger benefit.
Egoism is an ethical theory that asserts that individuals always behave in a manner geared for self-interest. Egoism argues that people act in their self-interest even if it does not seem (Eliopoulos,2018). The theory implies that individuals conduct their activities with the objective of self-benefit. Egoism suggests that individuals consider the self-interest idea to be the right analogy in the current society. For instance, when the students form academic groups to revise, the purpose is for each of them to excel in the examinations. The focus is on personal success and not group success.
Relativism is a theory which is elaborates those facts are based on the perspective of the observer. Relativism respects the perspective which the observer has assessed(Kusch,2020). It encompasses of varying scope and also includes a degree of controversy. For instance, if an individual believes that abortion is the right thing and explains it in medical terms, it can be deduced that the action is right.
Absolutism is a political theory that refers to a system where an individual has complete power over a certain jurisdiction (Eliopoulos,2018). Absolutism does not accord consideration to other people’s opinions in society. An example is a kingdom whose king has supreme authority to control all the activities within his jurisdiction.
